Favorite foods to make bulk and freeze for the road?

[obiwancanoli]

Usually thinking ahead, I like to prepare certain foods in bulk and freeze for the road. Problem was, can't stuff the smallish RV freezer too much, otherwise, it just won't keep stuff frozen (had ice cream bars melt prodigiously in short order). So, I opted to pick up a Dometic Dual Zone fridge/freezer (on sale!) to store extra foods for the road, and wondered what some of your favorites might be?

I make chili, soups, and cabbage rolls, and now that I can store more, I'm looking for easy, quick, delicious menu items I can make at home, and pack for the road.

Whadya got?

[wopachop]

Not very budget friendly but i found frozen burgers or pizza from your favorite spot are nice when out camping. I warm things up in a large pan with a lid on low heat. Walk away and come back 30 or 60 mins later. Nice knowing it wont burn if out talking with friends. Come back to the trailer for a beer and you have a toasty in&out burger ready to eat. The lettuce and tomato are not all that happy being frozen and then reheated. If you let the buns get nice and toasty it sorta balances out the potentially soggy inside part of the bun.

edit: in terms of bulk you would already be going to the restaurant. Buy more on purpose to freeze. A frozen in and out burger wrapped in foil in the fridge is like a block of gold when out camping!!!

[magnusfide]

lwbfl wrote:

magnusfide wrote:

I’ll be impressed the day they actually make a successful replicator. Earl Grey, hot.:B

Heck yeah, COMPUTER - Country fried steak, mashed potatoes, double white gravy........

Make it so. :B

[propchef]

lwbfl wrote:


Heck yeah, COMPUTER - Country fried steak, mashed potatoes, double white gravy........

You are certainly my spirit animal

[lwbfl]

magnusfide wrote:

I’ll be impressed the day they actually make a successful replicator. Earl Grey, hot.:B

Heck yeah, COMPUTER - Country fried steak, mashed potatoes, double white gravy........

[magnusfide]

lwbfl wrote:
There are several multi function units available today. Our Ninja Foodi slow cooks, pressure cooks, air frys, dehydrates, steams, sears, etc. One pot for every function.

I’ll be impressed the day they actually make a successful replicator. Earl Grey, hot.:B

[lwbfl]

There are several multi function units available today. Our Ninja Foodi slow cooks, pressure cooks, air frys, dehydrates, steams, sears, etc. One pot for every function.

[Wanderlost]

While working, we got into the habit of cooking up meals, then freezing in FoodSaver bags. We could save an entire meal in one bag, or put each dish into bags, so we could mix and match later. Toss into boiling water or microwave and we had fast and nutritious meals.

In retirement, we tend to only freeze the leftovers, but they come in very handy when heading out in the RV. We have a residential fridge, so the freezer's large enough to hold a lot. To pack it, we just open the chest freezer, pull out the FoodSaver bags, and load the RV freezer. Then mix and match at mealtimes on the road just like we do at home.

What foods do we choose? Pretty much anything we like to eat is fair game for freezing. We also can foods, and can fill up the pantry with them. Between the freezer and pantry, we can go for a long, long time without restocking anything except milk, eggs, and snacks.

[JoeH]

We have a full size residential refer so I pack a lot of stuff in the freezer. I smoked a 10lb Boston Butt a few days before we left on this trip. Pulled it and vacuum packed it into two person servings bags . I also have vacuum packed some of my vegetable lasagna, bison burgers, regular burgers, several lbs of speidies packed into 1 lb vacuum packages, ahi tuna, cod loins, pork tenderloins, a few racks of ribs, some conch chowder I made a few das ago and other assorted goodies including a few lbs of stone crab and conch fritters . I'm hungry again !

[propchef]

obiwancanoli wrote:
Are the Insta-Pot/Air Fryer combo's reliable, effective, compact? Seems like the best of both worlds, as I don't want to clutter up an already compromised space... I already have a MW/Convection combo, but haven't used it yet... maybe I should pay closer attention...

We love our InstantPot so much we bought one of the heated Instantpot blenders as well to replace our old blender. Instant pot Blender

[magnusfide]

Don't forget SPAM; it's shelf stable so it takes up no freezer or fridge space. It comes in low sodium/low-fat versions called SPAM-Lite. This is better than your Grandaddy's SPAM.

It's good fried up in a pan for an easy OTR meal. Plenty of recipes for it too.
RECIPES

[obiwancanoli]

Are the Insta-Pot/Air Fryer combo's reliable, effective, compact? Seems like the best of both worlds, as I don't want to clutter up an already compromised space... I already have a MW/Convection combo, but haven't used it yet... maybe I should pay closer attention...

[Sjm9911]

Im in the opposite catagory. I use the insta pot, but mostly as a crock pot. So i really dont use it to its abillity. The air fryer, because i have a 9 yo, is used all the time. Toast, fries ( freshly done or frozen) and any frozen kid thing in between can be done in the air fryer. A crock pot is nice to have also.

So , i would definitely get like thw air fryer / insta pot combo that they listed above. Crock pot and insta pot all in one.

[magnusfide]

garmp wrote:
Like others, when I smoke meats I generally smoke a lot, vacuum seal and pop into the micro wave for almost instant long smoked meals.
I do baby back ribs, beef ribs, brisket, corned beef, country ribs, and a lot more. Even air fry chicken wings, seal & freeze.
Ain't nothing better than after a long day of driving & setting up to pop a bag into the old microwave and having brisket like it just came off the smoker.

Glad you mentioned vacuum sealing. We bought a food saver to vacuum seal meats on sale. We started using it for other items for our trips. The removal of excess air makes more room in the freezer. We initially bought a less expensive vacuum sealer but after the third session it stopped working. We bought Food Saver to replace it and it’s still going strong after 11 years.

[garmp]

Like others, when I smoke meats I generally smoke a lot, vacuum seal and pop into the micro wave for almost instant long smoked meals.
I do baby back ribs, beef ribs, brisket, corned beef, country ribs, and a lot more. Even air fry chicken wings, seal & freeze.
Ain't nothing better than after a long day of driving & setting up to pop a bag into the old microwave and having brisket like it just came off the smoker.

[ICamel]

You can now get pressure cooker/air fryer combo units. You can also get a retro fit lid for Instant Pot that converts it to an air fryer.